Golden Week proves to be busy for traveling members of Ishiba's Cabinet
Many members of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet, including the prime minister himself, will be out of the country during the Golden Week holiday period.
Ishiba plus 14 Cabinet ministers have scheduled overseas trips during the holiday period between late April and early May.
The prime minister will visit Vietnam and the Philippines during a four-day trip until Wednesday.
Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, who is leading the Japan-U.S. tariff negotiations on the Japanese side, will fly to Washington for a three-day visit until Friday. There, Akazawa is set to take part in the second round of discussions on U.S. tariffs on Japanese products, with all eyes on whether the two sides can make progress in such talks.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya will have a packed schedule, visiting the Vatican for Pope Francis' funeral, the United States, Senegal, Saudi Arabia and France during his 10-day trip through May 4.
After attending the funeral, Iwaya is set to participate in the third Preparatory Committee session for the 2026 Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in New York.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki will visit Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, while education minister Toshiko Abe will travel to Ghana and Egypt.
With the rising cost of living hitting the Japanese people hard, opposition parties have questioned the need for Cabinet members' overseas trips.
Steering committees of both chambers of parliament held board meetings on Friday to discuss such visits.
Although the trips were approved by the steering committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan at the meeting of the steering committee of the House of Councillors refused to approve a part of Iwaya's scheduled trip and opposed the planned visits of the justice and education ministers.
The visits are "nonessential tours," a CDP lawmaker said. "(Cabinet members) should prioritize their duties that are in front of them, considering the tough (environment) the people face."
Members of the Women's Affairs Division of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party faced public backlash for their visit to France in July 2023, after they took a commemorative photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Higher prices and U.S. tariffs are straining household finances.
Given the current climate, a mid-ranking LDP official whose Upper House seat will be contested in this summer's election said that the public impression of this year's string of Golden Week overseas trips "is especially bad."
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